The Saddlers slipped to an not-unexpected defeat at high-flying Swansea last night but as last weekend, results elsewhere went in our favour so Walsall remain in the play-off places, as Leeds poor fun continued, Orient surprisingly lost at home, and Southend went down at Millwall.

Reaction on the message board has been slow to come in from those at the game, probably due to the late finish, but attention is also turning to squad strengthening, with some fans claiming Walsall are waiting for the 93 day rule to come into force so any signings are able to play in the play-offs. If this is true, new signings can be expected before our next game, which isn’t for another 10 days away at Swindon.

As to what we need to bring in, DinkydotSaddler offers these thoughts:

Tonights result is not the end of the world. We played a good team who are 8 points clear at the top for a reason. However, I have been concerned about our lack of strike power for ages. Even with Ricketts I felt we needed someone else and now we don’t have him the situation is far from good. We don’t have anybody that looks like scoring week-in-week-out. Deeney may well just not be ready yet and if we force it it could spoil what he may still have to come.

We aren’t necessairily scoring fewer goals, but we have to accept that our defence has been weakened. What we need is to bring in a couple of players, take a deep breath, and build on what we have already achieved this season. It would be a crying shame if all that has been done turns out to be for nothing. Hopefully within the next few days the management issues will be sorted and we can concentrate on bringing in a few decent loans to give us a good run-in. It is only one game after all - let’s face it not even the most optimistic amongst you would have said that this is a game we would expect to win.